1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains in general to dispensing apparatus for medication or the like and in particular to an apparatus for dispensing drugs that will reduce medication errors and alleviate the workload of medical personnel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is the present practice in modern day hospitals that medications for various patients are provided by the pharmacy department for later dispensing by nurses on the floor.
To assist in this practice an individual cart is provided for each nursing station on a floor which has been loaded with pharmaceuticals for a particular day. As understood in the art, as one cart loaded with medications is being used by staff to dispense medications to patients during drug rounds, other carts are being filled by the pharmacy with appropriate patient medications for dispensation during the following day.
The existing system assigns a separate drawer for each patient, into which are placed all of the drugs for that patient for one day, or for one period of time. The dispensing nurse must consult the medication administration record (MAR), figure which drugs she needs for the current round time, then sort through all the drugs in the drawer to pick out those wanted for this particular time. This procedure is error-prone in that she may pick the wrong drug. The new system removes the possibility of error by providing only those drugs that are to be given at that time in a container which identifies the patient and identifies each drug that the patient is to be given at this time.
It is also of interest to observe that envelope-type containers for dispensing medications are presently in use by institutions such as the Johns Hopkins University Hospital facility. The Johns Hopkins container apparatus, whose width dimension is greater than its heighth, utilizes a transparent open-ended pocket located upon the backside of the container; in this configuration the open end is located on the right.
Information relating to the patient and drugs is located on the front of the container and is read with the width dimension horizontal. However, when the containers are transported to the various patients they are carried in a tray with the height dimension horizontal and the pocket opening facing upwardly. In this manner the unit dosages of medication cannot fall out. This container configuration is less desirable since the necessary upward orientation of the pocket makes the patient and drug information difficult to read because it is ninety degrees from the horizontal.
The above prior art apparatus for medication dispensation is not considered desirable since the transparent pocket located on the back makes it more difficult for the nurse to check the drug name on the unit dose against the drug name on the printing located upon the front of the container apparatus.
The prior art is also deficient because when the dispensing envelopes are transported from place-to-place, they are held in six inch wide trays. As a result, the envelopes are positioned in the tray with the open end of the pocket in an upward position and the printing on the front of the backing sheet ninety degrees from the horizontal. This arrangement is not desirable for dispensing the needed medications.